By Joe Rogalsky,
Delaware State News
DOVER — Correctional officers could see a series of mid-year pay increases under a proposal the legislature's budget writing Joint Finance Committee approved Tuesday.
Over the summer, the state approved 5 percent "selective market" raises effective Jan. 1 for correctional officers because the Department of Correction was experiencing extreme difficulty in recruiting and retaining officers. Jan. 1 is the middle of the state's budget year.
Normally, once a class of employees goes through the selective raise process, they do not go through it again for several years.
The process gives raises to certain groups of workers beyond the general pay increases included in the annual state budget.
Under the plan approved Tuesday, correctional officers and other employee groups who received previous mid-year adjustments can apply again year after year as long as the state continues to struggle with staffing levels at the positions.
According to the Department of Correction, as of Tuesday, the state has 292 correctional officer vacancies out of 1,863 slots. Another 42 officers are serving on active military duty.
The JFC will include language in the state budget bill, which will be voted on by the legislature in June, setting up a second selective market process for employees who already received those raises once. Employees will now be able to be reviewed every year.
The panel also OK'd $600 increases in the annual hazard duty pay for correctional officers and probation and parole officers, bringing it to $3,120 a year.
"It certainly gives the correctional officers quite an increase," said Sen. James T. Vaughn, D-Clayton, a JFC member and former corrections commissioner.
"It is one of the best pay increases since I have been here.
"As I have told the correctional officers in the past, they owe us something too now — go to work and do their jobs and help us with the security."
In addition to the hazardous duty pay for the probation and parole officers, employees in jobs with lower hazard levels also will see increases.
Personnel in the second hazard level, such as youth rehabilitation counselors, will receive a $400 increase to $2,320 a year. Employees in the third and lowest level, such as prison record clerks, will get a $200 increase to $1,100 a year.
Personnel covered by those increases span the Department of Correction, the Department of Health and Social Services and the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families.
The hazardous duty increases begin July 1 when the state budget goes into effect.
Security breaches plagued the Department of Correction last year.
The most severe incident occurred July 12 at the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna, where an inmate took a prison counselor hostage for nearly seven hours and raped her before he was fatally shot by an officer.
Besides the pay plans, the JFC approved Gov. Ruth Ann Minner's proposal to earmark $1.7 million to address the recommendations from the task force that studied the July 12 incident.
Budget writers plan to include the money again in future years to address longer-term recommendations or other security issues.
"It's a number that will get us a long way down the road," Commissioner of Corrections Stanley W. Taylor said.
"There are handheld radios we can buy and we are looking at different types of cameras to help monitor blind spots in the facilities. There is also some tactical new equipment we can purchase."
Correctional officers will receive the across-the-board raises the JFC approved last week for all state employees, which Mr. Taylor said would boost their pay 4 to 5 percent.
Combined with the hikes in hazardous duty pay, officers will see double-digit percentage raises over the past year.
An officer who made $28,234 on July 1, 2004, will earn $32,376 on July 1, 2005 — a 15 percent increase.
If officers receive another 5 percent through the selective market process this year as they did last year, the pay would be $33,839, about 20 percent higher than in July 2004.
The state budget will include $5.5 million to cover the potential selective market increases, which also could extend to other sought-after positions such as nurses and engineers.
The JFC could have opted for other ways to increase salaries, such as recommendations several years ago from a correctional officers task force that suggested moving officers up two pay grades and instituting a system to reward longevity.
"I think it is wise to have chosen this vehicle but it is not just one shot," Mr. Taylor said.
"The positive thing for the correctional officers is they can use the selective market several times.
"We have seen an increase in our applications as a result of the increase in January. I expect this will pick that up.
"This has to start meaning things to applicants and also to employees already on board when they start thinking about leaving for another job."
Paul Smith, president of the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, said the pay proposal would be discussed at a COAD general membership meeting Thursday.
"We are encouraged and thankful for what we have heard so far," Mr. Smith said.
"But we need to look at the language of the selective market program and discuss it with our members before commenting further."
House Speaker Rep. Terry R. Spence, R-New Castle, said he would meet with COAD to make sure the officers are satisfied with the JFC's plan.
If the officers are not happy, Rep. Spence said, further proposals could be made.
The JFC wrapped up work on Department of Correction's budget on Tuesday, allocating $210 million for the agency, an increase of 8.3 percent over the $194.6 million it received this year.
Staff writer Joe Rogalsky can be reached at 741-8226 or jrogalsky@newszap.com.
Reprinted with permission from newszap.com www.newszap.com
